Nearly 9 years ago, a small car from an obscure, nearly-defunct Romanian brand was launched with little fanfare. The Dacia Logan was – and still is – a basic vehicle designed to be sold for very little money and provide honest, basic transportation for emerging markets. Few would have predicted that in nearly a decade of sales, it would spawn Renault’s top-selling nameplate while bringing in profit margins that were once reserved for premium marques.

September 10th (9 years and one day after the introduction of the first Logan) will bring about the launch of an all-new Dacia Duster, currently the top-selling vehicle in Renault’s portfolio. With its low price, solid dynamics and contemporary styling, the Duster has rode the worldwide compact SUV boom to rise to the top of Renault’s sales charts amid critical and consumer acclaim. The fact that North Americans would likely reject such a vehicle as a cheap, nasty car for credit criminals is immaterial. The Duster, along with the rest of Dacia, is helping to keep Renault afloat even though its own lineup is tanking, along with most of Europe’s car market.

Dacia has managed to do what was once thought impossible in the auto industry; sell small cars at a big profit. Dacia’s operating margins are said to be around 9 percent, which puts them on par with some of the better luxury brands in the auto world. By comparison, Renault’s is said to be in the neighborhood of 0.4 percent. By using old technology (that first-world customers would likely consider outdated) that has long been paid off and packaging it well, Dacia is able to make money even at prices far below mainstream auto makers. The fact that their cars are made in low-wage countries like Morocco, Algeria, Brazil and Russia doesn’t hurt either.

What’s the difference between you, because of your belief structure, not wanting to buy a car made by Muslims, and an atheist, because of their belief structure, not wanting to buy a car made by folks of whatever other religious persuasion?

I have no horse in this race, but watching you present your views as self-evident, and then not understanding why others might be put off by such, is a bit rich.

“What’s the difference between you, because of your belief structure, not wanting to buy a car made by Muslims, and an atheist, because of their belief structure, not wanting to buy a car made by folks of whatever other religious persuasion?”

The issue is the *uniqueness of Islam* compared to “whatever other religious persuasion” we might bring to the discussion.

“watching you present your views as self-evident”

Well, I simply assume that post-9/11 the general level of knowledge about Islam is sufficient for people to follow my line of thinking. People normally don’t ask you to elaborate when you tell them that you reject, say, fascism, Nazism or communism, so there’s no good reason they should ask you to do so as far as Islam is concerned – unless, that is, people don’t know nearly as much about Islam as I give them credit for, which is the conclusion I’m beginning to draw based on the responses so far in this thread.

I’ve met some Muslims: perfectly nice folks. I don’t share many of their views, and I even vehemently disagree with most of them, but on an individual level, I haven’t had a problem.

You actually have a Muslim equivalent, believe it or not. They are the few who can’t or won’t believe that there are Americans who aren’t fat, soulless, and pig-ignorant of the rest of the world. Luckily they, and you, are not the majority. Vocal bunch though, on both sides.

What is an ‘Islamic country’ and how do you think Morocco, Algeria and Turkey fit that definition?

Algeria is a replublic; Morocco is a constitutional monarchy; Turkey is a republic. All are majority-Muslim, but don’t have a lot in common aside from that, though Algeria and Morocco are more similar to each other than Turkey is to either.

What do you think is wrong with buying cars built in Muslim countries?

OK, Lampredi, I need to know whether to file you into the “xenophobe” or “strongly opinionated but inarticulate” folder, so help me out here. What’s your problem with Islamic countries? The religion itself, or the admittedly undesirable cultural traditions that seem to correlate with Middle Eastern countries dominated by Islam?

And you’re boring me. Succinctness is only a positive attribute if you are making a salient point. So far, the only answer you’ve given to the question “what is wrong with Islamic countries?” is “Because they’re Islamic”. ZZZZZZZZ…….

Bye bye, you’re losing the only audience member here who was dumb enough to continue correspondence with you.

That Dacia looks like a great little utility wagon. I might buy one even if it was built in Iran.

I haven’t banned anybody from TTAC yet. If you keep calling people cunts and telling them to shut the fuck up, I’ll shut *you* the fuck up by digging Bertel’s Beryllium Banhammer back up from my backyard and bopping you on the metaphorical grill with it.

You are free to state your opinions, let me state mine. Your statements appear to be based on prejudiced and opinion rather than fact. It’s hard to tell if your opinions are incorrect due to poor education or your prejudice or both. Either way, I have very little respect for your comments, and, it’s not like you took the opportunity to answer some good questions leveled at you either.

Really? I’ve only seen it in discussions regarding Morocco. Not sure why you think Morocco is so terrible, apart from being an Islamic state. They have been very cooperative in U.S. efforts against Islamic terrorist organizations. There are far worse things than providing a few manufacturing jobs to Moors.

Our Renault/Dacia Logan is celebrating its 5th birthday come September. In all that time, it’s been a tough car and is well adapted to Brazilian conditions. All the while it’s been a good car to drive and economic.

In 5 yrs it’s needed 2 new tyres, 2 suspension bits, oil. Unexpected issues were all fixed with no fuss, at Renault’s expense and with a loaner car: refitting the gas tank, a new temperature sensor (both common mishaps for cars the same age), 2 shock absorbers, rupture and subsequent loss of gearbox oil (caused by physical trauma, not defect). The greatest issue was 3 yrs ago the head gasket developed a crack, and Renault fixed it (that’d be the only quality issue).

All in all it means, that when it’s time to change one of our cars, the Ka will go, the Logan will stay, and I’ll be looking for a Logan 1.6. Yes, repeat customers we’ll be. I have many friends and family who have or had Logans, Sanderos or Dusters. Their experience is similar and many will stay in the Renault family.

All of this bodes very well for Renault-Nissan. As James May is wont to say, “Good news!”

Exactly. The suspension bits were a bushing and a pivot. Just for the left front wheel. As my wife is the primary driver of the car, she probably fell into one of the uncountable mooncraters that seem to be an unbeatable cancer on our streets. I’ve had other cars with the less or same mileage that have needed more suspension part replacements. Par for the course in Brazil.

Knock Renault if you will but the Renault of today is a very different company. This car is evidence.
Also. This car represents many values that Americans do like. The “tried and tested” drive train, the solidly engineered bodywork and it’s apparent reliability. I guess GM would rather try to make something similar, probably fail and that will be that…

I did not actually intend for any GM bashing but… Many a word of truth spoken in jest, right?
GM have been doing a few things right lately so there is hope. Or, Renault could just do us all a favor and sell that car here.

I’ve said this before, but my family is testament to this. Back in the day (60s) Dad had a Gordini/Dauphine. Lovely to drive, but all kinds of issues. Then Renault left the country, we left the country, and only back in Brazil, in the 90s, did a Renault (Scenic) make it back into the family. According to Mom, the Scenic was the best car she ever had.

After that minivan, two Clios, a Twingo, and two Logans (my brother and I) and a Sandero (Dad). All good, reliable, economic, content-rich, fun-to-drive cars. Brother is on his 2nd Renault, Dad on his third. My wife and I are in our second, and like I said above, very likely will get a third. Fact is, in a car loving family, a family that have worked on and with, raced and talk cars endlessly, Renault has been with us since the 90s. We aren’t done with them yet.

The first Logan was a pretty dire penalty box, but a quick jump over to NetCarShow’s Dacia section shows that Dacias have become much more tolerable, to the point you could even say they were designed by someone other than a bean-counter! The Lodgy, Dokker, new Sandero and Logan and Duster are modern. I know why we can’t have Dacias in the US – safety and crash standards and such – but I still wish they’d offer one or two here, ’cause they’re getting better and better.

Actually, the cheapest Dacia (Sandero in Access trim level – without AC or power anything) costs just €6,300 in Czech Republic. I guess the difference is caused by the fact that cheapest models are not even offered in Western Europe – no one in Germany would probably buy a non-AC car.